Following an overtime victory against Harvard in the NCAA first round, No. 6 Syracuse men's lacrosse (12-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) turns its attention to No. 3 Princeton (13-3, 5-1 Ivy League) in the tournament quarterfinals. The Orange will battle the Tigers this Saturday in Hempstead, N.Y., with a trip to the Final Four at stake. Both teams enter with momentum but face their toughest test yet in what promises to be an intense playoff matchup.
Syracuse extended its season with a nail-biting 13-12 overtime win over Harvard on Sunday. Syracuse showed resilience in the victory, overcoming an 8-2 halftime deficit to force overtime against Harvard. SU head coach Gary Gait praised his team's mental toughness in the postgame press conference.
"Our guys believed in each other, trusted each other and found a way to win, and you know as a coach that makes you so proud to have guys that don't give up and these guys have never given up," Gait said.
Syracuse scored eight goals in the second half, including six in the fourth quarter, to send the game to overtime. Senior attackman Owen Hiltz, who struggled for most of the game, delivered when it mattered most, scoring the game-winning goal just 51 seconds into overtime.
"Even when we've lost games, we always try and find a way to fight back and give ourselves a chance, and I think all those past games when we did lose but we kept playing paid off today," Gait said.
SU’ resilience was on full display as Hiltz capped off the thrilling comeback with an overtime goal.
"Joey had the ball behind, you know, usually when he's behind the net he has hands free. It's a good time to cut," Hiltz said about the game-winning play. "My defender looked away for a second and I decided to cut, caught the ball in traffic, tough finish and that's the game."
As Syracuse shifts its focus to Princeton, controlling possession will be key and few players have been more important in that area than faceoff specialist John Mullen.
The sophomore won 24 faceoffs in the win over Harvard, his second-most in a game behind the 28 faceoff victories he recorded against the Crimson earlier this season. Mullen has dominated the faceoff X at a 65.2% clip this year, the third-best mark in the nation. His 254 total faceoff wins also rank third all-time for a single season in Syracuse history.
Princeton counters with its own premier face-off specialist in junior Andrew McMeekin. The All-Ivy Leaguer set a school record with 132 ground balls in 2024 and was named the 2024 Ivy League Tournament Most Outstanding Player. This season McMeekin ranks fourth in the Ivy League with a face-off win percentage of .507 and ranks second in ground balls with seven a game.
The Orange are aiming for their 10th national championship and first since 2009. To get there, they'll need to defeat the Tigers on Saturday.
Syracuse have shown resilience throughout the season, bouncing back from a mid-season three-game losing streak to win their last four games.
"Our coaching staff and all our captains and upperclassmen kind of had some good talks in the locker room," Hiltz said about the halftime adjustment against Harvard. "We just weren't executing at the beginning offense and defensively, so we decided to kind of flip the switch and that's when we kind of went on a roll."
That ability to "flip the switch" will be key against the Tigers as the Orange look to advance to their first Final Four since 2013. Syracuse and Princeton battle Saturday at 2:30. Our coverage begins with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff at 2:00.